Jason Behrendorff will play through the pain of a stress fracture in his back in a bid to lift the Perth Scorchers to their third straight Big Bash League crown.
The star paceman performed similar heroics during last summer's BBL campaign, but the back injury has flared again this season, forcing him to miss last week's 52-run loss to the Melbourne Stars.
The 25-year-old is expected to return for Friday's semi-final showdown with the Stars at the MCG, and the Scorchers are hopeful he'll be able to back up for Sunday's final if the team makes it.
After the BBL concludes, Behrendorff will spend the rest of the domestic season recuperating.
Behrendorff isn't expected to need surgery to fix the problem, but it will probably need to be carefully managed for the rest of his career.
"He's very courageous to play through the back he's got," Scorchers coach Justin Langer said.
"He'll be on ice for about four months after that I reckon."
The Scorchers will also be boosted by the return of paceman Joel Paris, who has been released from Australia's ODI squad.
Perth were embarrassed by the Stars at the WACA Ground last Saturday, skittled for 94 chasing 147.
Had they reached 109, they would have won hosting rights for this week's semi-final but instead will need to beat the Stars at a packed MCG.
Langer lamented his team's inept batting display, and said dropped catches also hurt his team dearly.
"Dropped catches killed us," Langer said.
"There is no one we need to bring back in. We just need to bat better.
"There's no doubt we've got the stock, we just need to execute better. We just had an off day."
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